Bites and Blues showcases tastes, sounds of the Crystal Coast

The chance to sample the best dishes local restaurants have to offer while enjoying blues on the waterfront is just around the corner.

KATIE HANSEN - Daily News Staff

The chance to sample the best dishes local restaurants have to offer while enjoying blues on the waterfront is just around the corner.

The second annual Bites and Blues, an event under the North Carolina Seafood Festival, takes participants, or “biters,” along the Morehead City waterfront from 5 to 8 p.m. March 29 to indulge in bites of cuisine from the area’s best independently-owned restaurants.

There are only a limited number of tickets for the event, which Stephanie McIntyre, the executive director of the North Carolina Seafood Festival, said are already going fast. Bites and Blues, the kick-off event for Toast to the Coast week, another event of the NC Seafood Festival, exists to further the mission of the festival by promoting North Carolina seafood, raising funds for Carteret County scholarships and promoting the Crystal Coast as a culinary destination.

“We added a few more tickets this year because they did sell out last year,” McIntyre said, adding that they had to turn people away. Tickets cost $30 per person and can be purchased at the NC Seafood Festival office or by contacting them at 252-726-6273. Tickets will be available for a will call pick-up the night of the event.

Bites and Blues consists of 18 participating restaurants, all who will provide a “bite” of a dish, for the progressive tasting.

“Most of the bites are heavy appetizers,” McIntyre said, ranging from beef to seafood. Participants are not required to follow the map provided on the tickets, but can taste the bites in whatever order they please. Appetizers will be available in the participating waterfront restaurants, as well as bars and art galleries that will serve tastings from off-site restaurants from Morehead City, Beaufort, Atlantic Beach and Newport.

“It’s kind of like a scavenger hunt,” McIntyre said, only ticket holders won’t have to solve any clues to get their rewards.

When the event debut last year, dessert was not provided. This year the Morehead City Fire Department will provide some sweets.

MCFD will be serving up s’mores to biters in the 6th Street parking lot. Along with satisfying the sweet tooth, the fire department will give tips on how to build safe fires.

“They can go there in the beginning if they want dessert first,” McIntyre said.

Also, along the way biters will get to enjoy music from bluegrass and jazz performers who will be stationed in the restaurants, on the streets and on the waterfront to serenade people to their next destination.

McIntyre said the 12 groups playing are a mix of local and non-local performers.

The restaurants do not have a theme to follow with their foods, but McIntyre said they will be competing for the biter-voted Bite of the Night award, so they will be pulling out all the stops.

Biters can vote for their favorite dish to win Bite of the Night at any of the participating locations. The award will be given out that night and posted on the NC Seafood Festival website at http://ncseafoodfestival.org/, the Toast to the Coast website at http://www.toasttothecoast.org/ and the Toast to the Coast Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ToastToTheCoastRestaurantWeek.

The restaurant that wins gets $500 and “bragging rights all year long,” McIntyre said.

Lee Taylor, co-owner of the SoundSide Restaurant in Morehead City, which won last year’s Bite of the Night, said the Bites and Blues event “let’s you show off your abilities that sometimes you wouldn’t normally see in the restaurant.”

Taylor said they can be as creative as they want, and being new on the restaurant scene in Morehead City last year, he added that winning Bite of the Night helped them get the word out about their establishment.

“It’s definitely good exposure, not only to locals,” he said. “It’s a chance for us to show we’re not just a steak and seafood restaurant, we can do a little bit of everything.”

This year, SoundSide will be serving up bites of a North Carolina beef short rib wrapped up in a spring roll and served with an asian style dipping sauce.

“We’re coming to win it again,” Taylor said. “I think everyone’s going to be chasing us, so there’s going to be some great food out there.”

Bites and Blues is the kick-off event to the Toast to the Coast week, which takes place from March 30 to April 5. Most of the restaurants participating in Bites and Blues will also participate in Toast to the Coast, where the public can try a three-course meal for $25 from a pre-fixed menu. McIntyre said the idea of Toast to the Coast is to let the public try out these local restaurants at a reduced price and see what the area has to offer in terms of dining.

As for the rest of the Toast to the Coast week, Taylor said it is worthwhile for any diner, because “there’s going to be some great deals out there.”

Bites and Blues will give biters a chance to meet the chefs and try a sample of food before heading to the establishments for Toast to the Coast week.

Another new event included in Bites and Blues this year is a chance to meet the artist for this year’s NC Seafood Festival poster. “We’re actually unveiling our poster that night for the North Carolina Seafood Festival,” McIntyre said.

The public is invited to that event at 4 p.m. at the Sanitary Restaurant in downtown Morehead City to meet the artist and have her sign a purchased print. The posters cost $30 that night.

All the proceeds from Bites and Blues go toward scholarships for those pursuing education related to the seafood industry, including two culinary scholarships for Carteret Community College, two for Cartert County high school students who either want to pursue marine sciences or who are part of a commercial fisherman’s family, and one for the Brad Sneeden Marine Science Academy, which works to spark kids’ interest in marine sciences.

Beyond the scholarships, McIntyre said the Seafood Festival, Bites and Blues, and Toast to the Coast are aimed at encouraging people to eat local and to eat NC Seafood.

Bites and Blues kicks off Toast to the Coast from 5 to 8 p.m. March 29. Tickets for Bites and Blues are available at the North Carolina Seafood Festival office or by calling the office at 252-726-6273 for $30 per person. Toast to the Coast is a weeklong event featuring some of the finest seafood and chefs along the Crystal Coast. No ticket is necessary. Just show up to your chosen eating establishment and select from the Toast to the Coast price fixed menu for $25 per person. Toast to the Coast will take place March 30 through April 5.